King Dedede (SSBU)

King Dedede in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Kirby
Other playable appearances	in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Dede-Rush
Tier	D- (78)

King Dedede (デデデ, Dedede) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was confirmed as playable along with Rosalina & Luma and the rest of the veterans on June 12th, 2018. King Dedede is classified as Fighter #39.

Series creator Masahiro Sakurai's portrayal of King Dedede from Super Smash Bros. 4 was repurposed for Ultimate.

King Dedede is currently ranked 78th out of 82 on the current Ultimate tier list, placing him near the end of the D- tier as the lowest ranked veteran from Brawl; while buffed overall, this is similar to his placement in Smash 4, at 51st out of 54. As a super heavyweight, King Dedede boasts incredible endurance, alongside a far-reaching, super armored recovery, Super Dedede Jump; this makes it very difficult to KO him outright. He is notably one of the most intimidating characters at the ledge, due to his hammer's range, Jet Hammer, his various tilts and smash attacks, and most significantly Gordo Throw, all of which make for deadly ledge traps. Dedede also fittingly boasts the some of the strongest attacks in Ultimate, notably with forward smash, dash attack and up tilt, while he has a decent counter to projectile camping in Inhale, which can also be used for his Gordos.

However, King Dedede has severe flaws that overshadow most of his positive attributes. Dedede's awful mobility is the source of many of his problems, notably having the slowest air speed, which makes it challenging to approach or retreat. While his recovery is armored and long-distanced, Dedede is exceedingly vulnerable offstage due to his air speed and low midair jumps. His large hitbox and few escape options make him highly susceptible to combos and juggling. His slow frame data makes the majority of his moveset highly committal, with his aerials outside of neutral aerial having high landing lag, and his fastest attacks being too weak to net KOs; his strongest attacks, while extremely powerful, are all too slow to avoid punishment. Finally, Gordos can be reflected by any hitbox that deals at least 2%, making it abusable by opponents in neutral. Combined, Dedede disadvantage state is notoriously poor, and he has a surprisingly hard time taking stocks in neutral: he is reliant on being in advantage to create setups and ledge traps, which is difficult for him to establish.

King Dedede's sheer amount of problems have left him with negative competitive reception. While Dedede was initially viewed as an upper mid tier, his weaknesses only became more apparent as the metagame progressed. Dedede also received notable nerfs to his Gordo hitboxes and shield break set-ups in subsequent balance patches, lowering his competitive standing even further. Though players such as Atomsk and ZAKI have seen some success with the character, many of Dedede's early mains have either dropped him or relegated him to a secondary.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play VS. matches, with King Dedede being the 30th character to be unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Donkey Kong or any character in his unlock tree, being the 4th character unlocked after Rosalina & Luma.
• Have King Dedede join the player's party in World of Light.

King Dedede must then be defeated on Fountain of Dreams (the Ω form is used in World of Light).

Attributes

King Dedede is tied for the third heaviest character in the game alongside Donkey Kong, making him a super heavyweight. King Dedede shares some typical attributes with other heavyweights, such as a serious damage output, high KO potential, incredible endurance, quick falling and fast falling speeds (both tied for second and third fastest, respectively), overall sluggish mobility, large size, and a high susceptibility to combos. In addition to having an average initial dash and the thirtieth highest gravity, he has the twenty-eighth slowest walking speed, eleventh slowest dashing speed, the worst air speed in the game, and the fourth slowest air acceleration. To counteract these flaws, however, King Dedede is gifted with four midair jumps.

As a super-heavyweight, King Dedede has immense endurance, both vertically and horizontally. His massive weight makes him difficult to launch, and his incredibly fast falling speed lets him return to the ground quickly. Despite having the worst air mobility, his four midair jumps and Super Dedede Jump, the latter of which travels a very long vertical distance and has super armor during its ascent and descent, give him great recovery for a heavyweight. Super Dedede Jump also has a meteor smash hitbox during its descent, making it risky to intercept if he recovers high. His tech rolls are unusually long-distance for a character of his size, making him difficult to tech-chase. Finally, King Dedede's trademark hammer grants him a long disjoint in many of his attacks, allowing him to safely space his opponents, especially if they are slow and have worse range than him.

True to a super heavyweight character, King Dedede is gifted with an abundance of finishers. King Dedede's dash attack is a notable example, as it deals huge damage, and reliably KOs under 100%, while being able to KO as low as below 60% near the ledge. King Dedede's smash attacks all possess great power, great disjointed range, and transcendent priority, while having their own unique perks: forward smash can reliably KO from 60% and below in most situations, has deceptively short ending lag for an attack of its power, while also being able to deal severe shield damage; up smash reliably KOs from anywhere on-stage around 100ish% without rage, while covering a large space all-around Dedede; lastly, down smash is his fastest smash attack in his arsenal and covers significant horizontal distance around both sides of Dedede, while easily KOing below 100% near the ledge and around 125% from center.

The rest of King Dedede's grounded moveset comes with merits: neutral attack can be useful for racking up damage, while the finisher's unique vertical knockback allows this move to KO at 150% under rage. King Dedede's forward tilt sports good range and startup lag, while its multiple hits are effective for dealing damage and starting combos, while also trapping rolling or floor-bound opponents; up tilt has quick startup lag and good range, allowing it to combo into itself while dealing good damage and leaving King Dedede's body and head intangible; lastly, down tilt deals good damage and has good range, being able to pursue opponents or retreat from them.

King Dedede's aerial game is also decent, thanks to his multiple midair jumps, which allow him to stall and bait reactions from opponents. Neutral air is his fastest aerial due to coming out on frame 7, which can disrupt enemy combos, and its late hit can also set up combos for Dedede himself, such as up tilt or up air. Forward air has a lot of range in front of Dedede, which is good for spacing and edgeguarding with its decent startup speed, and can wall of pain at lower percents. Back air is a potent kill option with a good range behind Dedede, which is also a good option for spacing and landing. Up air can beat out a lot of down aerials thanks to its long-range, and it also has strong KO potential. Down air, when sweetspotted, is a powerful meteor smash offstage, but its use in general is limited due to its slow startup and small, awkward hitbox.

King Dedede's grab game has perks of its own. Although his grab has merely average range, this problem can be mitigated by dash grabbing. His pummel is good for racking up on damage, due to its quick speed, which is especially deadly at high percentages; forward throw has good edgeguarding potential, being able to follow up with Gordo Throw; back throw is Dedede's strongest throw, dealing the most damage and knockback while having limited degrees of damage racking and edgeguarding potential; up throw can also be used to launch opponents into previously thrown Gordos, and can follow up with an up aerial; lastly, down throw's low damage and knockback lend it great combo potential, easily stringing into itself, and initiating combos with Dedede's neutral, forward, and back aerials.

King Dedede's special moves have decent utility as well. Inhale acts as a strong command grab that can be B-Reversed for landing options against shielding opponents on the ground or on platforms above Dedede. The spit can force opponents into a recovery state by sending them offstage or even spitting them under the stage, which is perhaps where Dedede is strongest. Inhale also doubles as a reflector, allowing him to contest against projectile campers. The Gordos from Gordo Throw act as powerful stage control options with KO potential in their own right at 140% and above, and can set up deadly ledge traps. Lastly, Jet Hammer is an effective punishing tool and great with heavy armor that does very high damage and knockback, which kills at relatively low percentages. With a max charge, it can break full shields.

In spite of these strengths, King Dedede still has noteworthy drawbacks. King Dedede's biggest problem is his approach, which is among the worst in the game. His mobility is sluggish, especially in the air, giving King Dedede immense difficulty catching up to or retreating from his opponents. King Dedede's below-average dashing speed also makes him over-reliant on fox-trotting to cover grounded distances, which itself is somewhat predictable.

Although King Dedede's fast-falling speed allows him to easily return to the ground, his slow air speed, large hurtbox, heavy weight, and lack of fast-enough escape options render him vulnerable to combos and juggling. King Dedede's recovery is further hampered by his aforementioned slow air speed and fast falling speed, often forcing him to use his Super Dedede Jump to return onstage. Super Dedede Jump itself, despite traveling high, also causes King Dedede to descend very quickly; this, coupled with its limited horizontal maneuverability, renders Super Dedede Jump unreliable for recovering at certain distances offstage.

King Dedede's other specials can work against him as well. Inhale has high ending lag, allowing other characters to easily punish him after he finishes the move. Gordo Throw's Gordos can be reflected at King Dedede from any attack that does 2% or higher, dealing immense damage to him and potentially resulting in a self-induced KO, requiring him to exercise caution or utilize Inhale on his reflected Gordos. Jet Hammer also takes a long time to charge, leaving King Dedede susceptible to attack, and its high ending lag leaves him vulnerable to punishment from his opponents.

Overall, King Dedede's high weight, endurance, range, and power allow him to punish his opponents with relative ease and survive for a very long time, but his poor overall mobility makes King Dedede's approach somewhat abysmal and renders his recovery somewhat predictable and overly reliant on Super Dedede Jump. Dedede players should be careful not to make a mistake, or else they might potentially risk getting heavily punished.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

King Dedede was infamous for being one of the worst characters in SSB4, owing to a large number of weaknesses such as notoriously poor frame data, his moveset's lack of power despite being a super heavyweight, and his special moveset's lack of utility outside of Gordo Throw. Even in game updates, he infamously received nerfs while not receiving a single buff in return. Possibly as a result of his poorly regarded status, King Dedede was buffed overall in the transition to Ultimate.

Among King Dedede's biggest buffs are those to his ground game. Neutral attack's KO power was significantly improved, and it has undergone adjustments that make it harder for opponents to fall from the move as easily. Forward tilt connects much better overall, allowing it to deal its maximum damage more frequently, whereas up tilt has increased KO power (now having power comparable to its Brawl incarnation, especially with rage) and down tilt's angle was positively adjusted while its hitbox was fixed, which when combined with the changes to jostling allows it to connect much more frequently. Dash attack now deals significantly increased knockback and has had its hitbox fixed, now making it a usable (albeit still rather slow) punish option at the edge. His smash attacks are also more useful, with both forward and up smash dealing more damage and knockback, and his forward smash is now slightly faster.

King Dedede's aerial game has been improved overall as well. The universal reductions to landing lag improve Dedede's limited combo and set-up ability, making his neutral aerial a more potent combo starter, and giving his up aerial's looping hits the capacity of starting drag-down follow-ups. Particularly, his up aerial now deals significantly increased knockback, turning it once again into a reliable KOing option despite its angle rendering it more vulnerable to LSI. Forward aerial has also increased knockback, improving its ability to edgeguard. His grab game has been slightly buffed as well, thanks to his grabs lasting for one more frame and his standing and dash grabs reaching further, despite all his grabs receiving slightly increased startup and increased ending lag.

King Dedede's special moveset has also received several miscellaneous buffs, giving him options that either he previously lacked or were outclassed. Inhale has a much larger grabbox and has gained the ability to spit out inhaled projectiles with a one-time increase to their damage, effectively giving him a reflector, which helps alleviate his vulnerability to projectile camping. Gordo Throw's hitboxes are larger and more accurate, and the move has less ending lag after a Gordo has been thrown. Additionally, Inhale's new ability to suck in projectiles to spit them out combines well with Gordo Throw, giving Dedede another way to throw or re-launch Gordos at a faster speed, which gives the projectile much more utility. Jet Hammer now deals more damage and knockback, has shield breaking potential, and it now has heavy armor before the move comes out that resists up to 14%, improving the move as a hard punish option.

Aside from direct changes, King Dedede also benefits from a few changes to universal gameplay mechanics. The universal increase to mobility has buffed his abysmal horizontal mobility (although it remains among the worst across the series), while the streamlined jumpsquats and the new limitations to air dodge mechanics have increased the effectiveness of his aerial moveset, by giving him additional landing options when combined with the reduction on landing lag, and improving his edgeguarding ability, now making the latter more formidable. The changes to air dodging also don't affect him as much as other characters, thanks to him still boasting multiple jumps and a long-distance recovery move in Super Dedede Jump, and he can potentially use a directional air dodge without having to resort to using his recovery move.

However, King Dedede is not without a few nerfs. His back aerial, despite having a visually more accurate animation, has smaller hitboxes, slightly decreasing its range. His neutral attack and up tilt deal less damage, making the former a less reliable option for racking up excess damage. He has also received some nerfs in game updates, such as his forward smash not breaking shields at once. Despite this, most of his nerfs have all been extremely minor in comparison to his more useful buffs.

Altogether, King Dedede's entire kit has been noticeably improved from SSB4, and while this doesn't change his core playstyle significantly (aside from Inhale becoming a reflector), it allows him to play to his strengths better thanks to his moves gaining improved consistency and utility. However, it is important to note that, due to this, King Dedede still retains most of his core weaknesses from the previous game, such as slow mobility, a lackluster disadvantage state, mediocre out of shield options, a vulnerability to some forms of camping, and a high susceptibility to rushdown and combos, with many of his buffs failing to alleviate his weaknesses outside of Inhale becoming a pseudo-reflector. Combined with the vast majority of returning veterans also receiving buffs that have improved them, King Dedede has not significantly improved relative to the cast in Ultimate, despite performing better compared to SSB4.

Aesthetics

• Due to the aesthetic used in Ultimate, King Dedede's model features an altered color scheme. His clothing and general design are more cartoonish, with higher contrast colors and greater detail in his clothes; the fur on his coat and hat appears fluffier and more detailed, and his sash has more depth.
  • Normal map changes to the star textures on his hammer give the illusion that they protrude slightly more, as depicted in his official artwork.
• Like many other characters, King Dedede is more expressive. For instance, he now squints in a humorously seductive manner during his crouching animation. King Dedede generally has more furious expressions during attacks, his Screen KO, and his helpless animation.
• Down taunt now has a more exaggerated animation, with the belly-drumming animated to be more obvious.
• Two of King Dedede's victory poses were slightly altered:
  • His up-inputted victory pose now shows a Waddle Dee walking up to him. The ending animation is now more exaggerated, with Dedede bouncing while laughing gloatingly.
  • His right-inputted victory pose now finishes with him charging Jet Hammer.
• King Dedede's star KO voice clip has been shortened, as it no longer extends past the KO's animation.
• King Dedede's Boxing Ring alias has been changed to "Self-Made King", a direct translation of the Japanese title, for consistency with its appearance in Kirby Star Allies.

Attributes

• Like all characters, King Dedede's jumpsquat animation takes three frames to complete (down from 6).
• King Dedede runs faster (1.36 → 1.496).
  • Initial dash is much faster (1.4 → 1.815), enabling fox-trotting for boosted ground mobility.
• King Dedede walks faster (0.98 → 1.029).
• King Dedede's air speed is much faster (0.63 → 0.735), now being nearly on par with Luigi's. However, it is still the lowest in the game.
• King Dedede's gravity is higher (0.08788 → 0.097).
  • His short hop and jump are shorter as a result (38 frames → 36 frames (short hop), 55 frames → 48 frames (jump).
• King Dedede is much heavier (119 → 127), allowing him to survive even longer.
• Forward roll has less ending lag (FAF 33 → 32).
• Forward roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-19 → 4-16).
• Back roll has more startup with less intangibility (frames 4-19 → 5-17) and more ending lag (FAF 33 → 37).
• Spot dodge intangibility starts sooner but also ends sooner (frames 4-19 → 3-18).
• Air dodge grants more intangibility (frames 4-29 → 4-32).
• Air dodge has much more ending lag (34 → 43).

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first hit has less ending lag (FAF 38 → 33).
  • The first two hits of neutral attack can now lock.
  • Neutral infinite has less startup lag (8 → 5), is faster, and connects more reliably.
  • Neutral infinite's finisher has less startup lag (6 → 4) and more knockback scaling (150 → 162).
  • Neutral infinite's finisher has 2 hitboxes rather than 1 (10u → 7u/7u), and the hitboxes extend farther vertically (Y offset: 10u-12u → 7.5u-13u (both)). The finisher has more range overall as a result.
  • The finisher has more ending lag (FAF 47 → 50).
  • Except for the finisher, each hit of neutral attack deals less damage (first hit: 4% → 2.5%, second hit: 4% → 2.2%, neutral infinite: 1% → 0.5%).
  • The infinite has gained a shieldstun multiplier of 5×. This allows it to lock opponents into their shields between each hit, and thus pressure them more effectively, but also allows them to cancel shieldstun and punish King Dedede more easily if they shield 10 hits or more.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack deals more knockback (40 base/100 scaling → 65/92 (clean), 35 base/100 scaling → 55/92 (late)), improving its already potent KO potential. This is boosted further by the changes to the Sakurai angle on the ground.
  • The clean hit and first late hitbox extend further inwards (Z offset: 7.8u-11.8u → 5u-11.8u), improving their ability to hit opponents at the edge, and combined with the changes to jostleing remove its blind spot.
  • Dash attack hitbox duration lasts longer with 2 new sourspot hitboxes (Frame 26-36 → 26-42).
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt's looping hits have altered angles (25°/96° → 22°/100°) and have altered knockback (20 base/24/80/90 set/100 scaling → 60/50/30/26 set/100 scaling), allowing the move to connect more reliably.
  • Forward tilt has an altered animation.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has less startup (9 → 7) and ending lag (FAF 44 → 39).
  • Up tilt does slightly less damage (12%/10% → 11.5%/9.5%).
  • Up tilt deals more knockback (50 base/80 scaling → 65/94), making the move much stronger despite the damage reduction.
  • Up tilt's hitboxes are smaller (7u/8u → 6u/6.5u), reducing its range.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt's clean hitbox now extends inwards (Z offset: 12u → 12u-6u), which combined with the changes to jostle mechanics removes its blind spot.
  • Down tilt launches at a lower angle (45˚ → 35˚).
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash has less startup (42 → 40) and ending lag (FAF 82 → 78).
  • Forward smash deals more damage (15%/24%/6% → 16%/18.5%/25%/11%), and all but the shockwave and early hitboxes deal more knockback (30 base/93 scaling → 50/70 base/85/74 scaling).
  • There is now a hitbox on the handle during the early hit which instead of launching opponents pushes them into the sourspot of the main hit (which is still stronger than the early hit), making it slightly easier to land the main hit.
  • Forward smash has a new sourspot on the hammer's handle that's much weaker (though is still powerful in its own right), and the early hit deals less knockback (30 base/93 scaling → 85/55), hindering its KO potential despite its increased damage.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash deals more damage (14%/9% → 16%/10%) with no compensation on knockback, improving its KO ability.
• Down smash starts charging earlier (frame 8 to 6).

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag (15 frames → 9 (neutral), 30 → 18 (forward/down), 21 → 13 (back), 22 → 13 (up).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial possesses much greater combo potential due to its reduced landing lag and King Dedede's shorter jumpsquat, especially when hitting with the late hit.
  • Neutral aerial causes King Dedede's belly to wobble around during the move.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial has more knockback scaling (90 → 98).
  • Forward aerial has a snappier animation, with a significant delay on when King Dedede flips.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial is now a horizontal hammer swing, which better matches the move's hitboxes.
  • Back aerial now has 3 unextended hitboxes rather than 1 extended one (10u → 6.5u/6.5u/6.5u). Compared to the previous hitbox, the new hitboxes have both less vertical range (Y reach: 20u–0u → 16.5u–3.5u), and less horizontal range (Z reach: -25u–1u → 0.5u–-24.5u).
    • The hitboxes are now able to interpolate with King Dedede's movement.
  • Due to his reduced short hop duration, King Dedede can no longer jump out of a short hop back aerial before landing.
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial's final hit deals more knockback (50 base/150 scaling → 55/167).
  • Up aerial launches at a lower angle (70°/80° → 60°), hindering its KO potential close to the upper blast zone, while also making it much more susceptible to DI and LSI.
• Down aerial:
  • The duration of the hitbox has been slightly increased (22-23 → 22-24).
  • It has an altered animation: King Dedede swings his hammer from his right instead of his left. It also has a more forceful animation.

Throws and other attacks

• Grabs:
  • All grabs have more startup (frame 7 (standing)/9 (dash)/10 (pivot) → 8/11/12) and ending lag (FAF 36 (standing)/45 (dash)/42 (pivot) → 40/48/43).
  • Standing grab's grabbox extends farther (Z2 offset: 11.5 → 12.5), improving its range.
  • Dash grab's grabbox extends slightly farther (Z2 offset: 14 → 14.4), slightly improving its range.
  • Pivot grab's grabbox does not extend as far outwards (Z2 offset: -19.5 → -19.3), which combined with the changes to jostling hinders its utility.
• Pummel
  • Pummel deals more hitlag (5 frames → 16), but has much less startup (frame 9 → 2) and ending lag (FAF 25 → 8), shortening its duration overall as well as making it harder to escape between each pummel.
  • Pummel deals less damage (3% → 1.6%).
• Up throw:
  • Up throw has improved combo potential due to King Dedede's faster jumpsquat and jump speed.
• Down throw:
  • Down throw has an altered animation, with King Dedede slamming his opponent face-first onto the ground.
  • Down throw now deals 8 frames of hitlag to King Dedede and the opponent before the throw occurs, rather than dealing 6 frames of hitlag to the opponent only. This makes down throw easier to DI and increases its ending lag, as its total duration was unchanged.

Special moves

• Inhale:
  • Inhale has less startup lag (frame 17 → 14).
  • Inhale acts as a reflector, giving a 1.5x damage boost to any projectiles spat out. Once Inhaled, the projectile is spat out almost immediately, and eliminates almost all of the move's ending lag.
    • Inhale can catch and spit Dedede's own Gordos. This gives him an option to relaunch Gordos that are hit back at him, and manually allows him to launch Gordos forward much further and at a much faster velocity compared to throwing one with Gordo Throw.
  • Inhale has a much larger grabbox.
  • Inhale's spit deals more damage (10% → 12%).
  • Spat out opponents deal more knockback to bystanders (70 base/70 scaling → 77/78).
  • Inhale has an updated, more opaque visual effect.
• Gordo Throw:
  • Gordos have significantly larger hitboxes on their bodies that don't shrink over time (3.1u/2.9u/2.6u/2.4u → 4u), and also have hitboxes that cover their spikes, considerably improving their area of attack, and doing a much better job at accurately representing the overall size and shape of the Gordos.
  • Gordos gain a surprised expression when deflected. Additionally, they have animated spines.
  • Gordos have a higher chance of sticking to walls (50% → 60%), improving their edgeguarding potential.
  • Gordo Throw has less ending lag (FAF 64 → 59).
• Super Dedede Jump:
  • Super Dedede Jump's landing hit deals more damage (11% → 12%).
    • It has altered knockback (80 (base)/100/80 (scaling) → 105/100 (base)/70/82 (scaling)).
  • Super Dedede Jump will snap to edge when reversed.
  • Super Dedede Jump descends more quickly.
  • King Dedede has blue trails form around him when using Super Dedede Jump, indicating armor.
• Jet Hammer:
  • Jet Hammer deals more damage (grounded: 11%-38% → 12%-40%, aerial: 10%-27% → 11%-32%).
    • Fully charged Jet Hammer deals more knockback (grounded: 5 (base)/66 (scaling) → 60/46, aerial: 10 (base)/70 (scaling) → 60/54).
  • Jet Hammer has heavy armor during the swing (frames 1-14) when used on the ground.
  • Uncharged and fully charged Jet Hammer's hammer head hitbox is larger (7.5u → 9u).
  • The fire from Jet Hammer is blue instead of red.
  • Fully charged Jet Hammer triggers Special Zoom upon hitting an opponent.
• Final Smash:
  • King Dedede has a new Final Smash called Dede-Rush, which features King Dedede taking his "Masked Dedede" persona from Kirby Super Star Ultra before trapping opponents inside of a caged boxing ring, attacking them with a barrage of missiles, and launching them with his Jet Hammer.
  • It deals more damage (46% → 59.6%) and knockback.
  • Unlike Dedede Burst in SSB4, it is not possible for opponents to escape once trapped.
  • Dede-Rush cannot trap more than one opponent at a time for extra damage.

Update history

King Dedede received a mix of buffs, nerfs and glitch fixes via game updates, but was buffed slightly overall. The most notable nerfs were to Gordo Throw: update 2.0.0 shrunk the Gordos' hitboxes, while update 3.0.0 both lowered their shield damage output and removed the Gordo-boosted Super Dedede Jump. Moreover, this same update further toned down King Dedede's ability to pressure shields by removing forward smash's ability to hit grounded characters twice, which removed its ability to instantly break shields.

Following these nerfs, update 7.0.0 would mark the first time King Dedede was buffed in Ultimate, as his shield was enlarged as part of a near-universal buff. Update 8.0.0 continued this trend by buffing some of King Dedede's moves, primarily in regard to KO potential. Up tilt's damage output was increased noticeably, and down tilt's launching angle was lowered. As a result, both moves now function as strong, yet reasonably fast KO options when they are sweetspotted, which King Dedede was sorely lacking up to that point. Forward aerial and especially up aerial gained higher knockback: in addition to improving their KO potentials, with down throw to up aerial now being a KO confirm, this also improved forward aerial's edge-guarding potential.

In addition to his improved offense, King Dedede's defense was improved slightly, thanks to Inhale's decreased start-up lag and enlarged grabboxes making it more reliable at catching projectiles and approaches. Lastly, update 11.0.0 buffed Gordo Throw in a few ways: its decreased ending lag and Dedede's faster reflection timing have collectively made it safer, and its edge-guarding potential was improved thanks to the Gordos' increased chance of sticking to edges.

Overall, King Dedede fares slightly better than he did at the launch of Ultimate. Although Dedede retains a lot of his fundamental flaws and did not improve as much as other tepidly received characters that were also buffed via updates, his buffs have nevertheless improved his KO potential and, to a lesser degree, his defensive potential.

2.0.0

• Fixed King Dedede's knockback facial expression after Inhaling an opponent holding an explosive item.
• Gordos' hitboxes on their spikes (4.8u→3.8u) and body (4.5u→4u) have been reduced.

3.0.0

• Forward smash no longer hits grounded opponents twice. This significantly hinders its shield breaking potential.
• Fixed reflected Charge Shot from Samus that would launch the other way using Inhale.
• Opponents now properly gain intangibility when caught by Inhale; previously opponents would become stuck in hitstun during Inhale.
• Gordo Throw deals less shield damage.
• Gordo Boosted Super Dedede Jump was removed.
• Aerial Gordo Throw's animation has been adjusted.

3.1.0

• Scenarios where the opponent would not escape from Inhale after King Dedede gets hitstunned at a specific frame has been fixed.

4.0.0

• Fixed an issue where Inhaling certain projectile would become stuck at the center of the stage.
• Fixed an issue where Gordo would become stuck under King Dedede after catching it back during invulnerabily.